January 31, 2014

She doesn't post much on her blog anymore, but you should follow Mel Spillman anyway, wherever she is! Tonight she will be at the opening of Herstories at the the MCA Hyde Gallery (the one downtown, 477 S. Main), which features Mel's artwork along with several other follow-worthy artists: Haelim Choi Allen, Lisa Alembik, Beth Edwards, Haley Morris-Cafiero, Melinda Posey, and Babette Shaw.

January 28, 2014

January 27, 2014

We recently tried the Venezuelan restaurant Arepa and Salsa, which is at 662 Madison. It was good! Everything we had was so flavorful and the service was excellent. Go try an arepa or an empanada or even a Venezuelan hamburger!

January 25, 2014

January 24, 2014

Artist Meghan Vaziri made this incredible portrait of me recently. I love it because it looks more like me than any photograph - it is me. She must have used several photos to create this portrait, rather than just copying a photo, and in doing so captured something more about me. That's the sign of a true portrait painter!

January 23, 2014

At bookclub a few weeks ago we discussed Burial Rites by Hannah Kent while eating a delicious salmon and drinking plenty of wine. It was a good discussion, and a generally well-liked book by those of us that read it - you can see the ratings below.

Our rating system is as follows:
5 = masterpiece
4 = holy crap that's good
3 = would recommend to a friend
2 = not a complete waste of time
1 = eh
0 = nothing but crap

January 21, 2014

This is from a few weeks ago - it is the view out my back door. Maybe you can't make out much because I was sketching it at twilight. We had the weirdest weather that day - it started as a rainy day in the 50s, then after it stopped raining the temperature dropped 20º by the time I made this sketch, then eventually got down to about 8º. Within a few days the temperature was back up to the 50s. I don't know why I find that so fascinating, but I do.

January 20, 2014

Here's one reason why I love having a membership to the Brooks: late on a Saturday afternoon when I felt like getting out of the house, and wanted to do something fun before having to go to the grocery store, I went to the Brooks shortly before closing and spent about 15 or 20 minutes with two works of art. The top left sketch is of a gorgeous painting called La Femme en Vert. The other is a sculpture by Rodin.

January 09, 2014

January 07, 2014

January 06, 2014

I forgot to post this while our show was still up! Here is Martha Kelly and me talking about our show at Memphis Botanic Garden on WKNO FM's show Checking on the Arts. Doesn't get much more Memphis than that! Well, maybe if we'd been eating barbecue, but no one wants to listen to that.